Power Efficient Operation at Significant Locations

ABSTRACT

A device and method for a user equipment (UE) to implement power savings mechanisms when operating within a significant location. The UE identifies that the UE is at a significant location. The significant location is a location relative to a currently camped cell of a network. At a first time and at the significant location, the UE performs a type of operation related to the network connection. The UE stores information corresponding to the performance of the type of operation at the first time in a profile associated with the significant location. At a second time and at the significant location, the UE performs the type of operation related to the network connection. The performance of the type of operation at the second time is modified based on the information stored in the profile associated with the significant location.

BACKGROUND

A user equipment (UE) may be configured to establish a connection to atleast one of a plurality of different networks or types of networks. Toestablish the connection and perform the full scope of functionalitiesnormally available to the UE via the network connection, the UE may campon a cell of a corresponding network.

The user and thus, the UE may spend a substantial amount of time at aparticular location. For example, the UE may often be located at theuser's home. Generally, when the UE is at the particular location, theUE may interact with the network via the same cells and encountersimilar scenarios related to the network connection. Under conventionalcircumstances, the UE may not consider the results of previousinteractions with the network that occurred while operating from theparticular location. Thus, despite previous interactions with thenetwork from the particular location having a certain result, the UE mayrepeat operations in the conventional manner each time the UE operatesfrom the particular location. However, performing operations related tothe network connection may cause the UE to experience a power drain.Accordingly, repeating operations under similar circumstances in theconventional manner may be an inefficient use of a limited power supply.

SUMMARY

According to an exemplary embodiment, a method may be performed by auser equipment (UE) configured to establish a connection with a network.The method includes identifying that the UE is at a significantlocation. The significant location is a location relative to a currentlycamped cell of the network. The method further includes, performing, ata first time and at the significant location, a type of operationrelated to the network connection. The method further includes, storinginformation corresponding to the performance of the type of operation atthe first time. The information is stored in a profile associated withthe significant location. The method further includes, performing, at asecond time and at the significant location, the type of operationrelated to the network connection. The performance of the type ofoperation at the second time is modified based on the information storedin the profile associated with the significant location.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a method may be performed bya user equipment (UE) configured to establish a connection with anetwork. The method includes, identifying a first predeterminedcondition. The first predetermined condition indicates that the UE islocated at a location relative to a camped cell of the network for apredetermined amount of time. The method further includes, generating aprofile for the location based on identifying the first predeterminedcondition. The method further includes, collecting, when at thelocation, information corresponding to at least one of characteristicsof the network or behavior of the UE. The information is stored in theprofile for the location.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, a user equipment (UE)includes a transceiver configured to establish a connection with acellular network and a processor configured to perform operations. Theoperations comprising identifying that the UE is at a significantlocation. The significant location is a location relative to a currentlycamped cell of the cellular network. The operations further comprising,performing, at a first time and at the significant location, a type ofoperation related to the cellular network connection. The operationsfurther comprising, storing information corresponding to the performanceof the type of operation at the first time. The information is stored ina profile associated with the significant location. The operationscomprising, performing, at a second time and at the significantlocation, the type of operation related to the network connection. Theperformance of the type of operation at the second time is modifiedbased on the information stored in the profile associated with thesignificant location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary network arrangement according to variousexemplary embodiments described herein.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary UE according to various exemplary embodimentsdescribed herein.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary method for the UE to declare a significantlocation according to various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a portion of the network that includes aplurality of cells and a plurality of significant locations.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary method for the UE to implement power savingmechanisms at a significant location according to various exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary method for the UE to manage the protocolprofile database according to various exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary method for the UE to add a protocol profile toa protocol profile database that is at maximum capacity according tovarious exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary method for the UE to detect entry within asignificant location and exit from the significant location.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary signaling diagram that relates to implementinga power saving mechanism for RLF recovery according to various exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary signaling diagram that relates toimplementing a power saving mechanism for OOS recovery according tovarious exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary signaling diagram that relates toimplementing a power saving mechanism for cell reselection according tovarious exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference tothe following description and the related appended drawings, whereinlike elements are provided with the same reference numerals. Theexemplary embodiments describe a device, system and method for a userequipment (UE) to implement various power saving mechanisms based on theUE's previous interactions with the network from a particular location.

The exemplary embodiments are described with regard to a UE. However,reference to a UE is merely provided for illustrative purposes. Theexemplary embodiments may be utilized with any electronic component thatmay establish a connection to a network and is configured with thehardware, software, and/or firmware to exchange information and datawith the network. Therefore, the UE as described herein is used torepresent any electronic component.

The UE may establish a connection to at least one of a plurality ofdifferent networks or types of networks. The UE and the network maycommunicate via a cell of the corresponding network. The exemplaryembodiments may be described with regard to a Long Term Evolution (LTE)network and an Evolved Node B (eNB). However, any reference to aparticular network or a particular type of cell is merely provided forillustrative purposes. Those skilled in the art will understand that thenetwork may be any type of network and the cell may be any type of cellwithin the corresponding network.

The exemplary embodiments are described with regard to a significantlocation. Throughout this description the term significant location mayrefer to a general area relative to at least one cell of thecorresponding network in which the UE spends a predetermined amount oftime. When the UE identifies a significant location, the UE may storeinformation related to the UE's interactions with the network whenlocated in the significant location. Subsequently, when operating at thesignificant location, the UE may implement various power savingmechanisms based on the stored information.

The UE may be configured to identify a plurality of significantlocations. To manage the stored information for a plurality ofsignificant locations, the UE may generate a protocol profile for asignificant location and maintain a database of protocol profiles. Eachprotocol profile may generally include information regarding thecharacteristics of the network and/or the behavior of UE relative to thecorresponding significant location. However, reference to a protocolprofile or any specific type of stored information associated with asignificant location is merely provided for illustrative purposes. TheUE may store any type of information related to the UE's interactionswith the network from the significant location in any appropriatemanner.

To provide an example, the UE may identify a general area surrounding orwithin the user's home as a significant location. When operating at theuser's home, the UE may interact with the network via a set of cellsbecause these cells have corresponding coverage areas that include theuser's home. Conventionally, the UE may not consider previousinteractions with these cells from this location. As a result, each timethe UE interacts with these cells from this location the UE may repeatoperations related to the network connection in the same manner. Theexemplary embodiments relate to the UE modifying conventional operationsbased on previous experiences at the significant location. Thus, insteadof repeating operations related to the network connection in the samemanner, the UE may perform the operations in a power efficient mannerbased on the stored information.

The UE may also be configured to establish a connection to a companionUE via a short-range communication protocol. The exemplary embodimentsmay relate to a UE that is equipped with this configuration butoperating in standalone mode. Throughout this description, standalonemode may refer to a mode of operation where the UE directly connects tothe cellular network. A UE that is configured to establish a connectionvia a companion UE may be, for example, a wearable device. For a varietyof different reasons, conventional wearable devices may not be intendedto primarily operate in standalone mode. The exemplary embodiments mayenable the UE to primarily operate in standalone mode. Thus, compared toconventional wearable devices, the exemplary embodiments may enable a UEto operate in standalone mode for longer durations. However, anyreference to a particular type of UE or a particular operating mode ismerely provided for illustrative purposes. The exemplary embodiments mayapply to any type of UE.

FIG. 1 shows a network arrangement 100 according to the exemplaryembodiments. The network arrangement 100 includes UEs 110-114. Thoseskilled in the art will understand that the UEs 110-114 may be any typeof electronic component that is configured to communicate via a network,e.g., mobile phones, tablet computers, smartphones, phablets, embeddeddevices, wearable devices, Cat-M devices, Cat-M1 devices, MTC devices,eMTC devices, other types of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. Anactual network arrangement may include any number of UEs being used byany number of users. Thus, the example of three UEs 110-114 is onlyprovided for illustrative purposes.

Each of the UEs 110-114 may be configured to communicate directly withone or more networks. In the example of the network configuration 100,the networks with which the UEs 110-114 may wirelessly communicate are aLTE radio access network (LTE-RAN) 120, a legacy radio access network(RAN) 122 and a wireless local access network (WLAN) 124. However, theUEs 110-114 may also communicate with other types of networks (e.g., 5Gnew radio (NR), etc.) and the UEs 110-114 may also communicate withnetworks over a wired connection. Therefore, the UEs 110-114 may includea LTE chipset to communicate with the LTE-RAN 120, a legacy chipset tocommunicate with the legacy RAN 122 and a WLAN chipset to communicatewith the WLAN 124.

Each of the UEs 110-114 may also be configured to communicate with atleast one of the other UEs 110-114 without using the networks 120-124.In the example of the network configuration 100, the UE 110 maycommunicate with the UE 112 using a short-range communication protocolsuch as BlueTooth. Thus, if the UE 110 and the UE 112 are within aproximity of one another (e.g., within a distance in which BlueToothcommunications may be performed), the UE 110 and the UE 112 may exchangedata. In one exemplary scenario, if the short-range communicationprotocol is being used, the UE 110 and the UE 112 may have a companionrelationship where the UE 110 is an accessory device and the UE 112 is asource device. Thus, in certain operating modes, the UE 110 may beconfigured to access network services by utilizing only the short-rangecommunication protocol without connecting to any of the networks120-124. In this exemplary operating mode, the UE 112 may connect to oneor more of the networks 120-124 and relay data exchanged with the one ormore networks 120-124 to the UE 110 over the short-range communicationpathway. However, in other operating modes, the UE 110 may connect toone or more of the networks 120-124 regardless of whether the companionrelationship with a further UE has been established.

The LTE-RAN 120 and the legacy RAN 122 may be portions of cellularnetworks that may be deployed by cellular providers (e.g., Verizon,AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.). These networks 120, 122 may include, forexample, cells or base stations (Node Bs, eNodeBs, HeNBs, eNBS, gNBs,gNodeBs, macrocells, microcells, small cells, femtocells, etc.) that areconfigured to send and receive traffic from UEs that are equipped withthe appropriate cellular chip set. The WLAN 124 may include any type ofwireless local area network (WiFi, Hot Spot, IEEE 802.11x networks,etc.).

The UEs 110-114 may connect to the LTE-RAN 120 via an evolved Node B(eNB) 120A, 120B. Those skilled in the art will understand that anyassociation procedure may be performed for the UEs 110-114 to connect tothe LTE-RAN 120. For example, as discussed above, the LTE-RAN 120 may beassociated with a particular cellular provider where the UE 110 and/orthe user thereof has a contract and credential information (e.g., storedon a SIM card). Upon detecting the presence of the LTE-RAN 120, the UEs110-114 may transmit the corresponding credential information toassociate with the LTE-RAN 120. More specifically, the UEs 110-114 mayassociate with a specific cell (e.g., the eNB 120A or the eNB 120B ofthe LTE-RAN 120). As mentioned above, the use of the LTE-RAN 120 is forillustrative purposes and any type of network may be used. For example,the UEs 110-114 may also connect to the Legacy RAN 122 or the 5G NR (notpictured).

In addition to the networks 120, 122 and 124 the network arrangement 100also includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network services backbone 160. Thecellular core network 130 may be considered to be the interconnected setof components that manages the operation and traffic of the cellularnetwork. The cellular core network 130 also manages the traffic thatflows between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The IMS 150 maybe generally described as an architecture for delivering multimediaservices to the UEs 110-114 using the IP protocol. The IMS 150 maycommunicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 toprovide the multimedia services to the UEs 110-114. The network servicesbackbone 160 is in communication either directly or indirectly with theInternet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network servicesbackbone 160 may be generally described as a set of components (e.g.,servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a suite ofservices that may be used to extend the functionalities of the UEs110-114 in communication with the various networks.

The network arrangement 100 may further include a CMAS server 170 thatmay generate emergency messages and/or emergency message indications(e.g., pings) to be broadcast over the cellular networks 120, 122 to theUEs 110-114. Since the CMAS messages are only broadcast over a cellularnetwork, to comply with various regulations and/or standards the UEs110-114 may remain connected, in some manner, to a cellular network,even when the UEs 110-114 have established a connection to anon-cellular network such as the WLAN 124. The network arrangement 100shows the CMAS server 170 directly connected to each cellular network(e.g., LTE-RAN 120 and Legacy RAN 122). However, this is merely providedfor illustrative purposes, CMAS server 170 may be connected to thecellular networks via the cellular core network 130.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary UE 110 according to various exemplaryembodiments. The UE 110 will be described with regard to the networkarrangement 100 of FIG. 1. The UE 110 may represent any electronicdevice and may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, adisplay device 215, an input/output (I/O) device 220, a transceiver 225,and other components 230. The other components 230 may include, forexample, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery thatprovides a limited power supply, a data acquisition device, ports toelectrically connect the UE 110 to other electronic devices, sensors todetect conditions of the UE 110, etc. A person of ordinary skill in theart would understand that the UE 110 may also represent the UEs 112,114.

The processor 205 may be configured to execute a plurality of enginesfor the UE 110. For example, the engines may include a significantlocation detection engine 235, a protocol profile database engine 240and a power saving engine 245. The significant location detection engine235 may enable the UE 110 to identify that a particular location is asignificant location. The protocol profile database engine 240 mayenable the UE 110 to maintain a plurality of protocol profiles for aplurality of corresponding significant locations. The power savingengine 245 may enable the UE 110 to implement various power savingmechanisms when the UE 110 is operating from a significant location.

The above referenced engines each being an application (e.g., a program)executed by the processor 205 is only exemplary. The functionalityassociated with the engines may also be represented as a separateincorporated component of the UE 110 or may be a modular componentcoupled to the UE 110, e.g., an integrated circuit with or withoutfirmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include inputcircuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process thesignals and other information. The engines may also be embodied as oneapplication or separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, thefunctionality described for the processor 205 is split among two or moreprocessors such as a baseband processor and an application processor.The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or otherconfigurations of a UE.

The memory 210 may be a hardware component configured to store datarelated to operations performed by the UE 110. As will be described infurther detail below, the memory 210 may store data associated with theconditions of the UE 110 when a determination of the operating mode isperformed. The display device 215 may be a hardware component configuredto show data to a user while the I/O device 220 may be a hardwarecomponent that enables the user to enter inputs. The display device 215and the I/O device 220 may be separate components or integrated togethersuch as a touchscreen. The transceiver 225 may be a hardware componentconfigured to establish a connection with the LTE-RAN 120, the legacyRAN 122, the WLAN 124, etc. Accordingly, the transceiver 225 may operateon a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set ofconsecutive frequencies).

Declaring a Significant Location

As mentioned above, a significant location may refer to a general arearelative to at least one cell of the corresponding network in which theUE 110 spends a predetermined amount of time. The mechanism the UE 110may implement to declare an area a significant location may include, inpart, monitoring the amount of time the UE 110 is camped on a particularcell. If the UE 110 is camped on the cell for at least the predeterminedamount of time, the UE 110 may declare the general area within thevicinity of its current location a significant location. The exemplaryembodiments may apply to the predetermined amount of time being set toany appropriate value such as, but not limited to, 5 minutes, 10minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, 1 hour 30 minutes,2 hours, etc.

The mechanism used to declare an area a significant location and theprocess of maintaining the protocol profile is intended to enable the UE110 to implement power saving mechanisms at locations which the UE 110frequently visits and/or at which the UE 110 spends a considerableamount of time. For example, the UE 110 may be located at the user'soffice Monday-Friday for 6 to 8 hours a day, the UE may be located atthe user's home nearly every night for 10 hours a day, etc. Thus, theexemplary embodiments are intended to generate and maintain protocolprofiles that enable the UE 110 to conserve power when located at thesetypes of locations. Since the locations at which the user may visitand/or spend a considerable amount of time may change, the exemplaryembodiments enable the UE 110 to maintain a protocol profile databasethat adapts to the user's activities. Thus, if the user begins to attenda different work place and no longer returns to the user's previous workplace, any significant locations corresponding to the user's previouswork place will eventually be removed from the database to make room fornew locations in which the user may spend a considerable amount of time.However, as mentioned above, the UE 110 declares a significant locationbased, in part, on being camped on a particular cell for a predeterminedamount of time. In addition, the UE 110 may determine a significantlocation even if the UE 110 is out of cellular coverage by mapping thesignificant location to the cell in which the device was previouslycamped on before losing cellular coverage. Thus, any reference to aparticular type of location being a significant location is merelyprovided for illustrative purposes. The exemplary embodiments maydeclare any type of location a significant location.

Each significant location may be a different size. Determining the sizeof a significant location may be based on any of a number of differentfactors. As will be described, in detail below with regard to FIG. 3,the UE 110 may determine the size of a significant location based oninformation from the application processor. This may enable the UE 110to associate the significant location with a general geographic area(e.g., 100 square meters, 10,000 square meters, dimensions of the user'swork place, dimensions of the user's home or property, etc.). However,the UE 110 may also determine a significant location based oninformation from the baseband processor. This may enable the UE 110 toassociate the significant location with the cellular characteristics ofa general area relative to at least one cell of the network (e.g.,camped cell ID, neighbor cell ID, measurement data, etc.). Thus, in someexemplary embodiments, the significant location may not be defined by ageographical location but rather may be defined by a combination of theidentity of network entities, further characteristics of the cellularenvironment and/or the behavior of the UE 110. Accordingly, the UE 110may declare a significant location based on only information collectedby the application processor (e.g., sensors such as, barometer, motionprocessor, lo-accuracy GPS, etc.), only information collected by thebaseband processor, or a combination thereof.

After a significant location is declared, the UE 110 may continue tocollect information corresponding to the significant location and updatethe corresponding protocol profile. Thus, the size and/or thecharacteristics indicative of a significant location may change overtime as more information about the significant location is learned bythe UE 110.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary method 300 for the UE 110 to declare asignificant location according to various exemplary embodiments. Themethod 300 will be described with regard to the network arrangement 100of FIG. 1 and the UE 110 of FIG. 2.

In 305, the UE camps on a cell of the network and initiates a timer. Forexample, the UE 110 may camp on the eNB 120A. The timer may provide anindication as to whether the UE 110 is camped on the eNB 102A for atleast the predetermined amount of time.

In 310, the UE 110 determines whether information from the applicationprocessor satisfies a first predetermined condition. The firstpredetermined condition may indicate whether the UE 110 is beingrelatively stationary. This determination may be based on a plurality offactors related to the geographic location and/or mobility of the UE110. If the UE 110 determines that the first predetermined condition issatisfied, the method 300 continues to 315 that will be discussed below.However, if the information from the application processor suggests thatthe UE 110 is moving at a speed that is beyond general walking speed orthere is a change in geographic location by a predetermined distance,the first predetermined condition is not satisfied. Thus, the method 300ends and a significant location may not be declared.

To determine whether information from the application processorsatisfies the first predetermined condition, the UE 110 may have aclient that is configured to receive information from various modules ofthe operating system. For example, the client may receive informationfrom the location module of the UE 110 which may provide services fordetermining the geographic location of the UE 110. The location modulemay collect information from various hardware components including, butnot limited to, cellular radios, WiFi radio, global positioning system(GPS), Bluetooth radio, barometer, accelerometer, magnetometer, compass,etc. However, reference to the location module is merely provided forillustrative purposes. Different operating systems may refer to similarmodules or entities by a different name.

In 315, the UE 110 determines whether information from the basebandprocessor satisfies a second predetermined condition. The secondpredetermined condition may indicate whether the UE 110 is beingrelatively stationary and may be based on a plurality of factors relatedto the characteristics of the network. A change in the characteristicsof the network may correlate to a change in location. For example, ifmeasurement data corresponding to the camped cell changes or theidentities of the neighbor cells change, this may indicate that the UE110 is no longer located within the general area the UE 110 was locatedin when the timer was started in 305. If the UE 110 determines that thesecond predetermined condition is satisfied, the method 300 continues to320 that will be discussed below. If the second predetermined conditionis not satisfied, the method 300 ends and a significant location may notbe declared.

The plurality of factors for determining the second predeterminedcondition may include, but are not limited to, a change in serving cellidentity (e.g., a cell's corresponding cell ID, frequency, legacylocation area codes, legacy routing area codes, LTE tracking area codes,NR registration area codes. etc.), a change in neighbor cell identity, achange in serving cell measurement data (e.g., signal-to-noise-ratio,reference signal receive power (RSRP), reference signal receive quality(RSRQ), reference signal strength indicator (RSSI), etc.) or a change inneighbor cell measurement data. Another factor may be a change indistance between the UE 110 and the eNB 120A based on RSRP or timingadvance value related to random access channel signaling. Another factormay be cellular angle of arrival (e.g., angle (0-360) relative to campedcell) estimated from multiple input multiple output (MIMO) pre-codingmatrix index. Similarly, even if the UE 110 is not utilizing the WLAN124 for a network connection, the UE 110 may use access point (AP)identities (e.g., basic serving set ID (BSSID), MAC address, serving setID (SSID), etc.) and their corresponding measurement data as anindication of the location of the UE 110.

In 320, the UE 110 determines whether the value of the timer that wasinitiated in 305 satisfies a predetermined threshold. If the timer doesnot satisfy the predetermined threshold in 320, the method returns to310. If the timer satisfies the predetermined threshold the method 300continues to 325.

As will be described in detail below with regard to FIG. 8, the processof declaring a significant location and determining whether the UE 110is located at an already declared significant location may occursimultaneously. Further, the exemplary embodiments are not limited todeclaring a significant location based on both the baseband processorand the application processor satisfying a corresponding predeterminedcondition. Other exemplary embodiments may relate to declaring thesignificant location based on only information from the basebandprocessor satisfying a predetermined condition or only information fromthe application processor satisfying a predetermined condition. Thus,the example of information from both the baseband processor and theapplication processor satisfying a predetermined condition is merelyprovided for illustrative purposes.

In 325, the UE 110 declares a significant location. Thus, the UE 110 maygenerate a protocol profile, tag the significant location with asignificant location ID and add the protocol profile to the protocolprofile database. The protocol profile may include, in part, variousnetwork characteristics that enable the UE 110 to identify that the UE110 is operating within the significant location. These characteristicsmay be similar to the information from the application processor thatprovides the basis for the determination in 310 and the information fromthe baseband processor that provides the basis for the determination in315. Accordingly, the protocol profile for the significant location mayinclude information such as, but not limited to, information regardingthe geographic location of the UE 110 and the mobility of the UE 110that occurred while the timer was running, the cell ID of the campedcell and neighboring cells, the measurement data of the camped cell andthe neighbor cells, the distance between the UE 110 and the cell, thecell angle of arrival and other cellular network identities such as, thepublic land mobile network (PLMN) identifier, global cell ID,location/routing/tracking/registration area codes, etc. As mentionedabove, the UE 110 may continue to collect information corresponding tothe significant location and update the corresponding protocol profile.Thus, the size and/or the characteristics indicative of a significantlocation may change over time as more information about the significantlocation is learned by the UE 110.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a portion of the network that includes aplurality of cells 402, 404, 406, 408 and a plurality of significantlocations 410, 420. The cell 402 has a coverage area 403, the cell 404has a coverage area 405, the cell 406 has a coverage area 407, the cell408 has the coverage area 409.

The significant location 410 is located within the coverage area 405 ofthe cell 404. Thus, the protocol profile of the significant location 410includes characteristics indicative of being camped on the cell 404 inthis general area within the coverage area 405 of the cell 404.

The significant location 420 is located within the coverage area 403 ofthe cell 402 and the coverage area 407 of the cell 406. Since thesignificant location 420 is located within both of these coverage areas,it is possible for the UE 110 to be camped on either the cell 402 or thecell 406 when operating within this general area. However, in thisexemplary scenario, the protocol profile associated with the significantlocation 420 is based on being camped on the cell 406. Thus, theprotocol profile may be defined relative to both characteristics of thecamped cell 406 and characteristics of the neighbor cell 402. However,the power saving mechanism that may be implemented based on the protocolprofile are associated with being camped on the cell 406. The UE 110 maymaintain a database of multiple protocol profiles. Thus, there may beanother protocol profile that is also associated with approximately thesame general area as the significant location 420 but is based on beingcamped on the cell 402. In some exemplary embodiments, to limit thememory space consumed by the protocol profile database, the UE 110 maycombine multiple protocol profiles that are associated with similarlocations into a single entry.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary method 500 for the UE 110 to implement powersaving mechanisms at a significant location according to variousexemplary embodiments. The method 500 will be described with regard tothe network arrangement 100 of FIG. 1, the UE 110 of FIG. 2 and themethod 300 of FIG. 3.

In 505, the UE 110 declares a significant location. As mentioned abovewith regard to FIG. 3, this may include generating a protocol profilecorresponding to the significant location and then storing the protocolprofile in the protocol profile database. In this exemplary scenario,the significant location corresponds to the user's home.

When the UE 110 is operating at the significant location, the UE 110 mayinitially perform operations related to the network connection in theconventional manner. The UE 110 may then capture information related tothe results of performing operations in the conventional manner and maystore this information in the protocol profile corresponding to thesignificant location. Thus, after the UE 110 declares a significantlocation, the UE 110 is configured to begin to store and capture thistype of information.

In 510, the UE 110 is triggered to perform a type of operation relatedto the network connection. In this example, the UE 110 encounters a typeof connectivity issue with the currently camped cell eNB 120A andexperiences no service. As a result, the UE 110 is triggered to searchfor a new cell to camp on in the conventional manner. In this example,the result is the UE 110 regaining service by camping on the neighborcell eNB 120B by performing cell reselection based on measurement data.

In 515, the UE 110 stores the results of the operation in the protocolprofile corresponding to the significant location.

In 520, the UE 110 exits the significant location. For example, the userand thus, the UE 110 may leave the user's home.

In 525, the UE 110 detects entry into the significant location (e.g.,the user returns home). For example, the application processor mayprovide an indication that the UE 110 is currently located at thesignificant location based on GPS information and the correspondingprotocol profile.

Alternatively, the baseband processor may identify characteristics ofthe network that correspond to the protocol profile. As mentioned above,when the UE 110 is operating at a significant location, the UE 110 mayinitially perform operations related to the network connection in theconventional manner. Thus, upon entry into the significant location theUE 110 is again configured to store and capture the results ofoperations performed related to the network connection.

In 530, the UE 110 is triggered to perform the same type of operationrelated to the network connection that was performed in 510.Accordingly, the UE 110 determines that the results for this type ofoperation are stored in the protocol profile corresponding to thissignificant location.

In 535, the UE 110 modifies the operation based on the results ofpreviously performing this type of operation from the significantlocation. In this example, instead of searching for a new cell to campon in the conventional manner, the UE 110 modifies the operation andsearches specifically for the eNB 120B. Thus, compared to theconventional operation, the UE 110 scans fewer frequency bands andprocesses less information. Accordingly, the UE 110 is able to conservepower (e.g., scan fewer frequency bands, process less information) basedon the results of previously performing this operation from thesignificant location. This example is merely provided for illustrativepurposes, exemplary scenarios related to learning and adapting to theresults of particular operations are discussed in more detail below withregard to FIGS. 8-11.

The above description relates to initially declaring a significantlocation and provides a general overview of how the UE 110 may implementvarious power saving mechanisms based on learning and adapting to theoperations performed from the significant location in the particularmanner. The following portion of the description may be categorized asrelating to: 1) generating a protocol profile and maintaining theprotocol profile database; 2) power saving mechanisms.

Generating a Protocol Profile and Maintaining the Protocol ProfileDatabase

As mentioned above, when the UE 110 is operating at a significantlocation the UE 110 may collect information regarding interactions withthe network from the significant location. Subsequently, the UE 110 maystore this information in the protocol profile for the correspondingsignificant location. From the UE 110 perspective, there may be avariety of different types of operations performed for a variety ofdifferent purposes.

The protocol profile may generally include characteristics of thenetwork that the UE 110 learns from operating from the significantlocation. These characteristics may include information such as, but notlimited to, identities of network entities, protocol parameters, metricsrelated to the cellular network, etc. The characteristics may alsoinclude information related to the behavior of the UE 110 when operatingat the significant location.

To provide a general example of the various interactions that may occurbetween the UE 110 and the network, consider the following exemplaryaspects of establishing, maintaining and utilizing the networkconnection.

The UE 110 may be configured to be in one of a plurality of differentoperating states when the UE 110 is camped on a cell of a network. Oneoperating state may be characterized as RRC idle state and anotheroperating state may be characterized as RRC connected state. RRC refersto the radio resource control (RRC) protocols. Those skilled in the artwill understand that when the UE 110 is in a RRC connected state, the UE110 may exchange information and/or data with the connected network. Theexchange of information and/or data may enable the UE 110 to performfunctionalities available via the network connection. Further, thoseskilled in the art will understand that when the UE 110 is connected tothe LTE-RAN 120 and in RRC idle state the UE 110 is generally notexchanging data with the network and radio resources are not beingassigned to the UE 110 within the network. However, when the UE 110 isoperating in RRC idle state the UE 110 may listen for transmissions fromthe network. Those skilled in the art will understand that the RRC idleand connected states are terms associated with an LTE network. However,throughout this description these terms are being used generally todescribe states the UE 110 may be in when connected to any network andthat exhibit the characteristics described above for the RRC idle andconnected states.

While in RRC idle state the UE 110 may listen for information such asbut not limited to, primary synchronization signals (PSS) and secondarysynchronization signals (SSS), Master Information Block (MIB), broadcastmessages, System Information Block (SIB), paging notifications etc. Inresponse, the UE 110 may issue a request to the network that indicatesthat the UE 110 wants to be moved to the RRC connected state. Thus, asuccessful transition from the RRC idle state to the RRC connected statemay include the exchange of messages between the UE 110 and the firstcell of the first network.

Transitioning from a RRC connected state to a RRC idle state may bereferred to as RRC connection release and transitioning from a RRC idlestate to a RRC connected state may be referred to as RRC connectionsetup or RRC connection reestablishment. However, reference to RRCconnection setup, RRC connection reestablishment and RRC connectionrelease is merely provided for illustrative purposes. Other networks mayrefer to similar operations by different names. The exemplaryembodiments are not limited to RRC connected state and RRC idle state.For example, when the UE 110 is connected to a 5G network, the UE 110may be configured to be in an RRC inactive state. In RRC inactive mode,the UE 110 maintains an RRC connection while minimizing signaling andpower consumption. As described above, reference to any particularoperating state is merely provided for illustrative purposes, theexemplary embodiments may apply to any suitable operating state for theUE 110.

The UE 110 may perform measurements on the cell the UE 110 is currentlycamped on and may also perform measurements on neighbor cells in thesurrounding area. The specific type of measurement data collected may bebased on network protocols or may be predetermined in any other suitablemanner. The measurement data may be based on a single measurement, basedon a plurality of measurements, derived from a measurement, derived froma plurality of measurements or based on a combination thereof. Forexample, when the UE 110 is camped on the eNB 120A, the UE 110 maymeasure the RSRP and/or the RSRQ of the serving cell 120A and theneighbor cell 120B.

The measurement data may be utilized by the UE 110 in determining whichcell the UE 110 is to camp on. For example, while the UE 110 is campedon the eNB 120A, the UE 110 may perform measurements on the eNB 120A andthe neighbor cell eNB 120B. The UE 110 may perform these measurements ona periodic basis, in accordance with a schedule, based on a timer, inresponse to an event or predetermined condition defined by the networkprotocols or a combination thereof. The measurement data may indicatethat the connection available via the eNB 120A is not suitable and theconnection via the eNB 120B would provide a suitable connection. Thus,cell reselection may be initiated and the UE 110 may attempt to camp onthe eNB 120B. However, this example is merely provided for illustrativepurposes, the exemplary embodiments may apply to any operation where theUE 110 utilizes measurement data in determining which cell the UE 110 isto camp on.

Further, the measurement data may be utilized by the network indetermining which cell the UE 110 is to camp on. For example, when theUE 110 is camped on and in an RRC connected state with the eNB 120A, theUE 110 may perform measurements for the serving cell 120A and theneighbor cell 120B. The specific contents and format of the measurementreport may be based on the corresponding network protocols.Subsequently, the UE 110 may transmit a measurement report to theLTE-RAN 120 that includes an indication that the connection to the eNB120A is no longer suitable and the connection available via the eNB 120Bwould provide a suitable connection. Accordingly, the LTE-RAN 120 mayinitiate a handover procedure and the UE 110 may transition from beingcamped on and in an RRC connected state with the eNB 120A to beingcamped on and in an RRC connected state with the eNB 120B. The networkmay initiate a handover procedure based on a variety of factorsincluding, but not limited to, signal quality, a cell's coverage areaand balancing the load of the network. A handover procedure may beperformed between cells within the same network or between cells ofdifferent networks. Further, reference to a handover or a measurementreport is merely provided for illustrative purposes and the exemplaryembodiments may apply to any operation that involves the networkutilizing measurements performed by the UE 110 in determining which cellthe UE 110 is to camp on.

Network protocols may also include various signaling that takes placeafter the UE 110 has successfully transitioned to an RRC connectedstate. For instance, to get Non-Access Stratum (NAS) services from thenetwork (e.g. internet connectivity), network entities beyond the cellmay be aware of the presence of the UE 110 to provide the bearers thatenable the UE 110 to utilize these services. This may include the UE 110communicating with various network entities such as the MobilityManagement Entity (MME) (e.g. via the connected cell). Connecting to theMME may be achieved by an attach procedure. Once the attach procedure issuccessfully completed, a context is established for the UE 110 in theMME and the corresponding bearers are established. After the attachprocedure is complete the UE 110 may be registered with the network. Fora variety of different reasons, while the UE 110 is registered with thenetwork, one of the bearers may be released and the UE 110 may be unableto perform various functionalities. To establish the bearers whileregistered, the UE 110 may send a service request to the MME. Theservice request may be triggered because the UE 110 has pending uplinktransmissions that require the bearers or the network has downlinktransmissions that require the bearers.

Further, a connectivity issue between the UE 110 and a particular cellof the corresponding network may occur. Throughout this description, aconnectivity issue may refer to any instance where the UE 110 isconfigured to camp on a particular cell and the UE 110 experiences noservice or limited service where the UE 110 cannot perform the fullscope of functionalities normally available to the UE 110 via thenetwork connection. The connectivity issue may be the result of anaction or inaction by the UE 110, a cell (e.g., eNB 120A, eNB 120B), thenetwork (e.g., LTE-RAN 120) or a combination thereof. The connectivityissue may be caused by at least one of a plurality of factors, such asbut not limited to, the location of the UE 110, signal strength, noise,interference, network congestion, network configuration, radio linkfailure (RLF), an attempt to camp on a cell fails, a handoff procedurefails, protocol stack requirements, failure of an RRC procedure, theconnection is released, lack of response to a service request, beamfailure, beam recovery failure, an out of service (OOS) event, etc.

Accordingly, with regard to a particular significant location, there isa wide variety of information that may be stored in the protocolprofile. The more time the UE 110 spends at the significant location themore information the UE 110 may learn. For example, the UE 110 maycollect various types of information to identify a serving cell such as,but not limited to, the PLMN ID, the frequency band or channel theserving cell may utilize (e.g., E-UTRA absolute radio frequency channelnumber (EARFCN), UTRA absolute radio frequency channel number (UARFCN)),cell global identity, physical cell ID (PCI), primary scrambling codes(PSC) and the ranges of measurement data in RRC connected state and/orRRC idle state corresponding to the serving cell. The UE 110 may alsocollect similar information to identify neighbor cells.

In another example, the UE 110 may collect information corresponding tonumber of random access channel (RACH) retransmissions after which RACHtransmission is successful, the number of radio link control (RLC)retransmission after which RLC transmission is successful, the identityof the cell and frequency after an OOS event or a RLF, the identifies ofcells traversed before the UE 110 experiences an OOS event, RRCreestablishment success rate, the amount of time for successful RRCreestablishment, downlink scheduling rate, uplink grant patterns andlink quality metrics (LQM). Further, since the characteristics of thenetwork relative to a significant location may change based on the timeand/or day of operation, the UE 110 may associate the information storedin the protocol profile with a particular day and/or time the UE 110captured this information.

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary method 600 for the UE 110 to maintain theprotocol profile database according to various exemplary embodiments.The method 600 will be described with regard to the network arrangement100 of FIG. 1 and the UE 110 of FIG. 2.

In 605, the UE 110 is currently camped on a cell of the network. In thisscenario, several different results may occur. The UE 110 may determineto update a protocol profile that is currently stored in the protocolprofile database, add a protocol profile to the protocol profiledatabase based on declaring a significant location or continue tomonitor for the possibility of adding a protocol profile to the protocolprofile database.

In 610, the UE 110 determines whether the UE 110 is currentlyexperiencing an OOS event. The UE 110 may be triggered to initiate theprocess of maintaining the protocol profile database in response toidentifying a predetermined event or may be configured to maintain theprotocol profile based on a schedule or a periodic basis. Thepredetermined event may relate to identifying information regarding acharacteristic of the network and/or the behavior of the UE 110 that theUE 110 is configured to include in a protocol profile.

If the UE 110 is not currently experiencing an OOS event in 610, themethod 600 continues to 615. In 615, the UE 110 determines whether theUE 110 was previously experiencing an OOS event. For example, if the UE110 is triggered to initiate the process of maintaining the protocolprofile database in response to identifying a predetermined event the UE110 may determine if the UE 110 was experiencing an OOS event theprevious instance in which the UE 110 was triggered to initiate theprocess of maintaining the protocol profile database. Similarly, if theUE 110 is configured to maintain the protocol profile database based ona schedule, the UE 110 may determine whether the UE 110 was experiencingan OOS event the previous instance in which the UE 110 initiated theprocess of maintaining the protocol profile database based on theschedule. If the UE 110 was previously experiencing an OOS event, themethod 600 continues to 620. If the UE 110 did not previously experiencean OOS event the method 600 continues to 625.

In 620, the UE 110 determines the identity of the cell the UE 110 wascamped on when the UE 110 exited the OOS event. Further, the UE 110 mayalso monitor the duration during which the UE 110 experiences OOS. Thus,the UE 110 may update the OOS duration based on exiting the OOS event.Subsequently, the method 600 continues to 625.

In 625, the UE 110 determines whether the UE 110 is currently within asignificant location. To make this determination, the UE 110 may querythe database with any available information that may identify a protocolprofile. For example, the UE 110 may query the database with informationreceived from the application processor describing the current locationof the UE 110, the cell ID of the currently camped cell, neighbor cellIDs, measurement data corresponding to the currently camped cell,measurement data corresponding to neighbor cells, informationcorresponding to the WLAN APs, etc.

If the UE 110 is currently in a significant location the method 600continues to 630. In 630, the UE 110 updates a protocol profile that iscurrently stored within the protocol profile database. This may includeinformation such as the cell the UE 110 was previously camped on whenthe UE 110 exited the OOS event, the duration during which the UE wasOOS, the current latitude/longitude from the application processor, theidentity and measurement information corresponding to the cellularnetwork and the WLAN, etc. Subsequently, the method 600 ends.

Returning to 625, if the UE 110 is currently not located within asignificant location the method 600 continues to 635. In 635, the UE 110determines whether the UE 110 is to declare a general area a significantlocation. This process is described above with regard to FIG. 3. If thefactors to declare a significant location are not satisfied the method600 returns to 610. If the factors to declare a significant location aresatisfied the method 600 continues to 640.

In 640, the UE 110 determines whether the protocol profile database isat maximum capacity. If the protocol profile database is not at maximumcapacity, the method 600 continues to 645 where a protocol profilecorresponding to the declared significant location is generated andadded to the protocol profile database.

If the protocol profile database is at maximum capacity, the method 600continues to 650. In 650, the UE 110 removes a protocol profile from theprotocol profile database to make room for the protocol profile that isto be generated for the significant location declared in 635. Theprocess of removing a protocol profile from the protocol profiledatabase will be described in detail below with regard to FIG. 7.Subsequently, the UE 110 adds the new protocol profile to the protocolprofile database.

Returning to 610, if the UE 110 is currently experiencing an OOS eventthe method 600 continues to 655. In 655, the UE 110 determines whetherthe UE 110 was previously experiencing an OOS event. This determinationis substantially similar to the determination made in 615. If the UE 110was previously experiencing an OOS, the method 600 continues to 660. Ifthe UE 110 was not previously experiencing an OOS, the method 600continues to 665.

In 660, the UE 110 determines that the UE 110 entered an OOS event whileon the currently camped cell. Subsequently, in 665, the UE 110 startsmonitoring the duration during which the UE 110 is OOS. Similarly,returning to 655, if the UE 110 was previously OOS, the UE 110 updatesthe duration in which the UE has been OOS in 665.

In 670, the UE 110 determines whether the UE 110 is currently within asignificant location. This determination is the same determination thatis made in 625. Like 625, if the UE 110 determines that the UE iscurrently within a significant location the method 600 continues to 630and if the UE 110 determines that the UE is currently not within asignificant location the method 600 continues to 635.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary method 700 for the UE 110 to add a protocolprofile to a protocol profile database that is at maximum capacityaccording to various exemplary embodiments. The method 700 will bedescribed with regard to the network arrangement 100 of FIG. 1 and theUE 110 of FIG. 2.

In 705, the UE 110 determines that a protocol profile is to be added tothe protocol profile database and the protocol profile database is atmaximum capacity. This is same step described above with regard to 650of the method 600.

In 710, the UE 110 determines whether the earliest entered protocolprofile in the protocol profile database corresponds to a significantlocation that has not been visited by the UE 110 for a predeterminednumber of days. This may indicate to the UE 110 that the UE 110 isunlikely to visit this significant location again. Thus, if thecorresponding significant location has not been visited by the UE 110within a predetermined number of days, the method 700 continues to 725where the corresponding protocol profile is removed from the database.If the corresponding significant location has been visited by the UE 110within the predetermined number of days, the method 700 continues to715.

In 715, the UE 110 determines whether the UE 110 has been located withinone of the significant locations for less than a predetermined amount ofoverall time. This may indicate to the UE 110 that the UE 110 does notfrequently visit this significant location. Thus, if the UE 110 has beenlocated within one of the significant locations for less than apredetermined amount of overall time, the method 700 continues to 725where the corresponding protocol profile is removed from the database.If the UE 110 has been not located within one of the significantlocations for less than a predetermined amount of overall time, themethod 700 continues to 720.

In 720, the UE 110 determines the significant location in which the UE110 has spent the least amount of overall time.

In 725, the UE 110 removes a protocol profile from the protocol profiledatabase and then adds the protocol profile mentioned in 705 to theprotocol profile database.

The exemplary embodiments are not limited to only removing protocolprofiles when the UE 110 determines that the protocol profile databaseis at maximum capacity. Alternatively, the UE 110 may monitor for any ofthe factors listed in 710, 715 or 720 on a periodic basis.

Power Saving Mechanisms

The protocol profile for a significant location may enable the UE 110 toperform various operations from the significant location in a powerefficient manner. As mentioned above, when the UE 110 is located at asignificant location, the UE 110 may initially perform an operation inthe conventional manner. The UE 110 may then store information regardingthe circumstances and results of the operation in the protocol profile.The next time the UE 110 encounters a similar scenario when operatingfrom the significant location, instead of performing the operations inthe conventional manner, the UE 110 may modify the operation to optimizepower consumption.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary method 800 for the UE 110 to detect entrywithin a significant location and exit from the significant location.The method 800 will be described with regard to the network arrangement100 of FIG. 1 and the UE 110 of FIG. 2.

In 805, the UE 110 camps on a first cell of the network. When camped,the UE 110 may collect information from the application processorindicative of the current geographic location of the UE 110. The UE 110may also collect information from the baseband processor that providesan indication of the characteristics of the current network environmentof the UE 110. For example, the UE 110 may collect cell IDscorresponding to the currently camped cell, cell IDs corresponding toneighbor cells, measurement data corresponding to the currently campedcell and neighbor cells, information regarding the WLAN, etc. In 810,the UE 110 queries the protocol profile database with the informationcollected in 805.

In 815, the UE 110 determines that the UE 110 is currently locatedwithin a significant location. For example, in response the queryperformed in 810, the protocol profile database may provide anindication that the protocol profile database includes a protocolprofile that corresponds to the queried information.

As mentioned above, detecting entry into a significant location anddetermining whether to declare a significant location may be occurringcontemporaneously. Thus, the UE 110 may set a timer when camped on thecell as described above with regard to the method 300. There may be apredetermined amount of time that relates to declaring a location asignificant location as described above in 320-325 of the method 300.There may be a further predetermined amount of time that triggers the UE110 to query the protocol database to determine whether the UE 110 hasentered a significant location. The further predetermined amount of timemay correspond to a lesser amount of time than the predetermined amountof time referenced in 320. Thus, in some exemplary embodiments, the UE110 may set a timer when camped on a cell and if information from theapplication processor and/or the base band processor satisfy apredetermined condition upon the occurrence of a first predeterminedamount of time the UE 110 may query the protocol profile database asmentioned above in 815. If the UE 110 determines that the UE 110 is notlocated at a significant location, the UE 110 continues to monitorwhether information from the application processor and/or the basebandprocessor satisfy a predetermined condition. If the informationsatisfies the predetermined condition until the occurrence of a secondpredetermined amount of time, the UE 110 may declare a significantlocation as described above in 320-325.

Returning to the method 800, in 820, the UE 110 camps on a second cellof the network and initiates a timer. Camping on the second cell mayindicate to the UE 110 that the UE 110 has exited the significantlocation. However, when camping on the second cell, the UE 110 may alsomonitor for entry into a further significant location. Accordingly, inthis example, the UE 110 may use a first predetermined threshold thatmay indicate that the UE 110 has exited the first significant locationand a second predetermined threshold that may be related to determiningwhether a new significant location is to be declared.

In 825, the UE 110 determines whether the UE 110 has exited thesignificant location. If the UE 110 returns to the previously campedcell, this may indicate to the UE 110 that the UE 110 has not exited thesignificant location. If the UE 110 remains camped on the second cellfor a duration that satisfies the first predetermined threshold, thismay indicate to the UE 110 that the UE 110 has exited the significantlocation.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary signaling diagram 900 that relates toimplementing a power saving mechanism for RLF recovery according tovarious exemplary embodiments. The method 900 will be described withregard to the network arrangement 100 of FIG. 1 and the UE 110 of FIG.2.

In 905, the power saving mechanism engine 245 sends a notification tothe NAS protocol layer 260 of the UE 110 and the AS protocol layer 265of the UE 110 indicating that the UE 110 has entered a significantlocation.

In 910, the UE 110 experiences RLF with the currently camped cell of theLTE-RAN 120. Subsequently, the UE 110 searches for a cell to camp on andfinds a second cell of the LTE-RAN 120 to camp on. Thus, in 915, the UE110 experiences RLF recovery on the second cell. In 920, the AS 265sends a signal to the power saving mechanism engine 245 that indicatesthe results of the RLF recovery (e.g., an identifier for the secondcell, the amount of time it took to achieve RLF, etc.). The results arethen stored in the protocol profile associated with that significantlocation. Subsequently, in 925, the UE 110 exits the significantlocation.

In 930, the UE 110 returns to the significant location and thus, thepower saving mechanism engine 245 once again sends a notification to theNAS protocol layer 260 of the UE 110 and the AS protocol layer 265 ofthe UE 110 indicating that the UE 110 has entered a significantlocation. In 935, the UE 110 once again encounters an RLF on the whileoperating from the significant location.

In 940, the AS 265 queries the power saving mechanism engine 245 forinformation about RLF when operating from the significant location. In945, the power saving mechanism engine 245 responds to the query byproviding a response that indicates to the AS 265 that the second cellpreviously provided a successful RLF recovery at this significantlocation.

Accordingly, in 950, the UE 110 performs power efficient RLF recovery byperforming a search for the second cell. Thus, instead of performing asearch in the conventional manner as in 915, the UE 110 conserves powerby searching directly for the second cell because the second cellpreviously provided RLF recovery under similar circumstances. Thus, theprevious interactions with the LTE-RAN 120 at the significant locationenables the UE 110 to save power and perform a quicker recovery bysearching for a particular cell that the UE 110 has previouslysuccessfully utilized for RLF recovery.

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary signaling diagram 1000 that relates toimplementing a power saving mechanism for OOS recovery according tovarious exemplary embodiments. The method 1000 will be described withregard to the network arrangement 100 of FIG. 1 and the UE 110 of FIG.2.

In 1005, the power saving mechanism engine 245 sends a notification tothe NAS protocol layer 260 of the UE 110 and the AS protocol layer 265of the UE 110 indicating that the UE 110 has entered a significantlocation. The UE 110 is currently in service and currently camped on afirst cell.

Subsequently, in 1010 the UE 110 loses service on the first cell. As aresult, in 1015, the UE 110 may perform a search in the conventionalmanner. The search results in the UE 110 regaining service on a secondcell on a different RAT.

In 1020, the AS 265 sends a signal to the power saving engine 245 thatincludes the results of the search, including, but not limited to, theidentity of the second cell, the identity of the RAT, recovery time,rate of OOS, etc. This information is then stored in the protocolprofile associated with the location. Subsequently, in 1025, the UE 110exits the significant location and sends a signal notifying the NASprotocol layer 260 and the AS protocol layer 265.

In 1030, the UE 110 returns to the significant location and thus, thepower saving mechanism engine 245 once again sends a notification to theNAS protocol layer 260 of the UE 110 and the AS protocol layer 265 ofthe UE 110 indicating that the UE 110 has entered the significantlocation. In 1035, the UE 110 once again loses service while operatingfrom the significant location.

In 1040, the NAS protocol layer 260 queries the power saving mechanismengine 245 for information about OOS when operating from the significantlocation. In 1045, the power saving mechanism engine 245 responds to thequery by providing a response that indicates to the NAS protocol layer260 that the second cell on the second RAT previously enabled the UE 110to regain service. The response may also any other information that wasincluded in 1020.

Accordingly, in 1050, the UE 110 performs power efficient search andrecovery that prioritizes the second cell on the second RAT based on theresults of the previous search and recovery in 1020. The otherinformation provided by the power saving engine 245 may allow the UE 110to optimize the timing of the scan in a power efficient manner. Thus,the previous interactions with the network at the significant locationenable the UE 110 to save power and perform a quicker recovery bysearching for a particular cell and a particular RAT during instances inwhich the UE 110 has previously successfully recognized OOS recovery.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary signaling diagram 1100 that relates toimplementing a power saving mechanism for cell reselection according tovarious exemplary embodiments. The method 1100 will be described withregard to the network arrangement 100 of FIG. 1 and the UE 110 of FIG.2.

In 1105, the power saving mechanism engine 245 sends a notification tothe NAS protocol layer 260 of the UE 110 and the AS protocol layer 265of the UE 110 indicating that the UE 110 has entered a significantlocation. The UE 110 is currently in service and camped on the firstcell 270.

In 1110, neighbor cell measurement data triggers cell reselection. Inthis exemplary scenario, the neighbor cell measurement data correspondedto a plurality of neighbor cells but the measurement data for the secondcell 275 triggered a predetermined threshold and causes the UE 110 toperform cell reselection and camp on the second cell 275. Accordingly,in 1115 the AS protocol layer 265 sends the power saving engine 245 thecell reselection results including the identity of the second cell 275as a cell reselection candidate for this significant location.

Since cell reselection causes the UE 110 to camp on the second cell 275,the UE 110 exits the significant location. Thus, in 1120, the UE 110exits the significant location and sends a signal notifying the NASprotocol layer 260 and the AS protocol layer 265.

In 1125, the UE 110 returns to the significant location and thus, thepower saving mechanism engine 245 once again sends a notification to theNAS protocol layer 260 of the UE 110 and the AS protocol layer 265 ofthe UE 110 indicating that the UE 110 has entered the significantlocation.

In 1130, due to the measurement data, the AS protocol layer 265 queriesthe power saving mechanism engine 245 for information about cellreselection when operating from the significant location.

In 1135, the power saving mechanism engine 245 responds to the query byproviding a response that to the AS 265 that includes cell reselectioninformation identifying the second cell 275. Based on this information,the UE 110 may save power by avoiding measurements that correspond toother neighbor cells that were previously not cell reselectioncandidates for the UE 110 at this significant location. Accordingly, in1140, the UE 110 performs cell reselection in a power efficient mannerand is camped on the second cell 275.

In another exemplary embodiment, the UE 110 may identify networkcongestion. For example, in response to a RRC connection request, the UE110 may receive a RRC connection rejection. The RRC connection rejectionmay include an indication of congestion from NAS signaling, ASsignaling, layer 1 signaling, etc. Subsequently, the UE 110 may storethe indications of congestion in the protocol profile for thesignificant location and include an indication of the time of day.

Subsequently, when operating at the significant location at the time ofday that congestion was identified, the power saving engine 245 maysignal the application processor to restrict background data,discretionary data or any other type of non-critical data. Thus, the UE110 is able to conserve power by avoiding connections that are unlikelyto succeed.

The UE 110 may encounter overlapping coverage areas for cells ofdifferent RATs and thus, the UE 110 may be triggered to perform cellreselection between cells of different RATs. For example, the user'shome may be included in a coverage area for a first cell that belongs tothe LTE-RAN 120 and a second cell that belongs the Legacy-RAN 122 (e.g.,WCDMA). Under conventional circumstances, in marginal coverage areas,the UE 110 may often be triggered to perform inter-RAT (iRAT) cellreselection or may encounter OOS events on one Rat and reconnect onanother RAT. iRAT transitions may cause excessive signaling. Forexample, when transitioning from LTE to WCDMA the UE 110 sends alocation area update (LAU) and a routing area update (RAU). This mayalso cause the UE 110 to deregister IMS. When transitioning from WCDMAto LTE the UE 110 may send a TAU. Excessive signaling may result in theUE 110 to spending longer duration in RRC connected state which maycause the UE 110 to experience a power drain.

The UE 110 may be configured to detect excessive signaling related toiRAT transitions when located at a significant location. For example,the UE 110 may be configured to identify a predetermined amount of iRATtransitions within a predetermined amount of time. To reduce excessivesignaling, the UE 110 may initially determine the dominant RAT. This maybe the RAT in which the UE 110 spends the most amount of time. In thisexemplary scenario, between WCDMA and LTE, the dominant RAT is LTEbecause the UE 110 spends more than 50% of its time camped on LTE whenat this significant location.

During operation, when the UE 110 enters CMAS mode while camped on thenon-dominant RAT, the UE 110 may set a timer to a predetermined amountof time. If during the duration of the timer, the UE 110 is triggered toan iRAT transition to the dominant RAT then the UE 110 returns to normalservice and camps on the dominant RAT. If the timer expires while the UE110 is camped on the non-dominant RAT, the UE 110 updates registrationon the non-dominant RAT and enters normal mode of operation while campedon the non-dominant RAT.

In one exemplary embodiment, the UE 110 may modify the thresholds thatmay cause the UE 110 to perform iRAT reselection. By lowering thethresholds related of the dominant RAT (e.g., LTE) to below thethreshold levels of the other RAT (e.g., WCDMA), the UE 110 may avoidfrequently performing iRAT transitions.

In another exemplary embodiment, instead of modifying the thresholds,the UE 110 may enter CMAS mode when the UE 110 is camped on thenon-dominant RAT. CMAS mode may be a power efficient mode of operationduring which information and/or data related to CMAS messages areprocessed while other operations related to the cellular networkconnection are limited, omitted and/or delayed. However, reference toCMAS mode is merely exemplary, as there may be similar modes ofoperation referred to by different names.

To reduce iRAT transitions that are caused by frequent OOS and thenrecovery in the other RAT, in one exemplary embodiment the UE 110 maybias cell searches towards the dominant RAT. For example, when the UE110 experiences OOS at the significant location, the UE 110 may modifyoperations by setting a timer to a predetermined amount of time and onlysearching for cells corresponding to the dominant RAT during theduration of the timer. In another exemplary embodiment, the UE 110 mayavoid frequent iRAT transitions by declaring itself to be supportingonly one RAT. For example, the UE 110 may declare itself to besupporting only the dominant RAT for a predetermined amount of time oruntil the occurrence of a predetermined condition. Thus, the UE 110 maynot perform operations corresponding to the non-dominant RAT for aperiod of time. As a result, from the network perspective, the UE 110may not be compatible with the non-dominant RAT and thus, the networkwill not trigger the UE 110 to perform operations related to thenon-dominant RAT.

In another exemplary embodiment, the UE 110 may utilize CMAS mode toreduce iRAT transitions that are caused by frequent OOS and thenrecovery in the other RAT. For example, the UE 110 may be configured toenter CMAS only mode when camped on the non-dominant RAT at thesignificant location. The UE 110 may not return to the dominant RATwithin a predetermined amount of time while being in CMAS mode unless itis via cell reselection or cell search after an OOS event on thenon-dominant RAT. After OOS, if the UE 110 recovers to the dominant RATthen the UE 110 may exit CMAS mode.

In one exemplary embodiment, due to the power cost associated withfrequent iRAT transitions, the UE 110 may be configured to monitor forexcessive iRAT transitions regardless of whether the UE 110 hasdetermined it is located at a significant location or has determined adominant RAT. For example, the UE 110 may identify excessive iRATtransitions based on identifying a predetermined number of iRATtransitions within a predetermined amount of time. This may include theUE 110 identifying a predetermined number of cell reselections and/orOOS events on a first RAT and recovery on a second RAT. Subsequently,the UE 110 may implement any of the power saving mechanisms mentionedabove with regard to excessive iRAT transitions.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-describedexemplary embodiments may be implemented in any suitable software orhardware configuration or combination thereof. An exemplary hardwareplatform for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, forexample, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, aWindows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having anoperating system such as iOS, Android, etc. In a further example, theexemplary embodiments of the above described method may be embodied as aprogram containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on aprocessor or microprocessor.

As described above, one aspect of the present technology is thegathering and use of data available from specific and legitimatesources. The present disclosure contemplates that in some instances,this gathered data may include personal information data that uniquelyidentifies or can be used to identify a specific person. Such personalinformation data can include demographic data, location-based data,online identifiers, telephone numbers, email addresses, home addresses,data or records relating to a user's health or level of fitness (e.g.,vital signs measurements, medication information, exercise information),date of birth, or any other personal information.

The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personalinformation data, in the present technology, can be used to the benefitof users. For example, the personal information data can be used todeclare a significant location and learn the characteristics of thenetwork and/or behavior of the UE relative to the significant location.Accordingly, use of such personal information data improves the userexperience by enabling a UE to implement various power saving mechanismsbased on the UE's previous interactions with the network from asignificant location.

The present disclosure contemplates that those entities responsible forthe collection, analysis, disclosure, transfer, storage, or other use ofsuch personal information data will comply with well-established privacypolicies and/or privacy practices. In particular, such entities would beexpected to implement and consistently apply privacy practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. Such informationregarding the use of personal data should be prominent and easilyaccessible by users and should be updated as the collection and/or useof data changes. Personal information from users should be collected forlegitimate uses only. Further, such collection/sharing should occur onlyafter receiving the consent of the users or other legitimate basisspecified in applicable law. Additionally, such entities should considertaking any needed steps for safeguarding and securing access to suchpersonal information data and ensuring that others with access to thepersonal information data adhere to their privacy policies andprocedures. Further, such entities can subject themselves to evaluationby third parties to certify their adherence to widely accepted privacypolicies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should beadapted for the particular types of personal information data beingcollected and/or accessed and adapted to applicable laws and standards,including jurisdiction-specific considerations that may serve to imposea higher standard. For instance, in the US, collection of or access tocertain health data may be governed by federal and/or state laws, suchas the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA);whereas health data in other countries may be subject to otherregulations and policies and should be handled accordingly.

Despite the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplatesembodiments in which users selectively block the use of, or access to,personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplatesthat hardware and/or software elements can be provided to prevent orblock access to such personal information data.

Moreover, it is the intent of the present disclosure that personalinformation data should be managed and handled in a way to minimizerisks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risk can beminimized by limiting the collection of data and deleting data once itis no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including incertain health related applications, data de-identification can be usedto protect a user's privacy. De-identification may be facilitated, whenappropriate, by removing identifiers, controlling the amount orspecificity of data stored (e.g., collecting location data at city levelrather than at an address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g.,aggregating data across users), and/or other methods such asdifferential privacy.

Therefore, although the present disclosure broadly covers use ofpersonal information data to implement one or more various disclosedembodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that the variousembodiments can also be implemented without the need for accessing suchpersonal information data. That is, the various embodiments of thepresent technology are not rendered inoperable due to the lack of all ora portion of such personal information data. For example, declaring asignificant location and learning the characteristics of the networkand/or behavior of the UE relative to the significant location may bebased on aggregated non-personal information data or a bare minimumamount of personal information, such as the information associated withthe significant location being maintained only on the user's device.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications may be made in the present disclosure, without departingfrom the spirit or the scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intendedthat the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of thisdisclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claimsand their equivalent.

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A method comprising: at a user equipment (UE)configured to establish a connection with a network: identifying a firstpredetermined condition, wherein the first predetermined conditionindicates that the UE is located at a location relative to a camped cellof the network for a predetermined amount of time; generating a profilefor the location based on identifying the first predetermined condition;and collecting, when at the location, information corresponding to atleast one of characteristics of the network or behavior of the UE,wherein the information is stored in the profile for the location. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein the first predetermined condition andthe second predetermined condition are based on informationcorresponding to the mobility of the UE.
 13. The method of claim 11,wherein identifying the first predetermined condition is based ongeographical information and mobility information collected by a modulebeing executed by the operating system of the UE.
 14. The method ofclaim 11, wherein identifying the first predetermined condition is basedon information received by the baseband processor.
 15. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the characteristics of the network include a cell IDof the camped cell, a cell ID for a neighbor cell, measurement datacorresponding to the camped cell and measurement data corresponding tothe neighbor cell.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein thecharacteristics of the network include a cellular angle of arrivalcorresponding to the camped cell that is based on a multiple inputmultiple output (MIMO) pre-coding matrix index.
 17. The method of claim11, wherein the characteristics of the network include at least one of atiming advance value based on random access channel (RACH) signaling, anumber of RACH transmissions and a number of radio link control (RLC)retransmissions.
 18. The method of claim 11, the information is storedin the profile for the location further includes at least one of anidentity for an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network(WLAN).
 19. The method of claim 11, wherein the UE is a wearable deviceoperating in standalone mode.
 20. The method of claim 11, wherein aplurality of profiles corresponding to a plurality of locations arestored in a database, the method further comprising: determining thatthe database is at maximum capacity; selecting one of the plurality ofprofiles stored in the database; removing the selected one of theplurality of profiles from the database; and adding the generatedprofile to the database.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein theselected one of the plurality of profiles is a profile that was leastrecently added to the database, wherein the least recently added profileis selected based on whether the UE has entered a location correspondingto the least recently added profile within a predetermined number ofdays.
 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the selected one of theplurality of profiles is selected based on an overall amount of time theUE has spent at a corresponding location.
 23. (canceled)
 24. A processorof a user equipment (UE) configured to perform operations, comprising:identifying a first predetermined condition, wherein the firstpredetermined condition indicates that the UE is located at a locationrelative to a camped cell of a network for a predetermined amount oftime; generating a profile for the location based on identifying thefirst predetermined condition; and collecting, when at the location,information corresponding to at least one of characteristics of thenetwork or behavior of the UE, wherein the information is stored in theprofile for the location.
 25. The processor of claim 24, wherein thefirst predetermined condition and the second predetermined condition arebased on information corresponding to the mobility of the UE.
 26. Theprocessor of claim 24, wherein identifying the first predeterminedcondition is based on geographical information and mobility informationcollected by the processor.
 27. The processor of claim 24, wherein thecharacteristics of the network include a cell ID of the camped cell, acell ID for a neighbor cell, measurement data corresponding to thecamped cell and measurement data corresponding to the neighbor cell. 28.The processor of claim 24, wherein the characteristics of the networkinclude a cellular angle of arrival corresponding to the camped cellthat is based on a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) pre-codingmatrix index.
 29. The processor of claim 24, wherein the characteristicsof the network include at least one of a timing advance value based onrandom access channel (RACH) signaling, a number of RACH transmissionsand a number of radio link control (RLC) retransmissions.
 30. Theprocessor of claim 24, the information is stored in the profile for thelocation further includes at least one of an identity for an accesspoint (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN).
 31. A user equipment(UE), comprising: a transceiver configured to communicate with anetwork; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver andconfigured to perform operations, comprising: identifying a firstpredetermined condition, wherein the first predetermined conditionindicates that the UE is located at a location relative to a camped cellof the network for a predetermined amount of time; generating a profilefor the location based on identifying the first predetermined condition;and collecting, when at the location, information corresponding to atleast one of characteristics of the network or behavior of the UE,wherein the information is stored in the profile for the location.